"Erin, you're going to be late again."
Erin snapped back to reality when she heard her aunt calling her. She was in the middle of eating her chocolate cereals when she got lost in a reverie again.
"Oh, sorry," she muttered.
"Isn't your exam today?" asked her aunt.
Her aunt Shelley had raised her since she was a child. According to her, Erin's parents and other family died during a car crash. It sounded so cliche, but that was what happened to her family. It was all over the news. Erin saw newspaper clippings of the particular event, which her aunt had kept all these years.
She and her aunt were the only ones who survived. Fortunate or unfortunate, her aunt wasn't there when the accident happened. Meanwhile, because Erin was still very young when that happened, she had no memory of the events. Erin miraculously survived, but she retained no recollection of her other family members, even their faces.
"Yeah," Erin said.
"Did you study? You know that we're trying to get you the best grades so next year you could easily apply at the school," Shelley said.
Whenever her Aunt Shelly mentions "the school", she is only talking about one: the Holy Angel University, where she is said to have graduated. According to her aunt, it's the best school in town and graduating from high school, then college, at that very university would mean she would have a good life.
"Of course, I studied. I mean if I hadn't, you'd probably poison my breakfast," she said with a small smile.
"You smartass," Shelley responded, smiling while shaking her head. "Did you stay up all night? You looked like you hadn't had an ounce of sleep."
Erin wasn't able to respond right away.
She looked at her aunt who was busy preparing food for both of them. Her aunt worked as a cleaning lady for a school where she goes to. Erin had always been curious why her seemingly smart and talented aunt would settle for a cleaning lady job. Not that she has any problems with her aunt's current job: it pays okay and her aunt seems to be happy with her work. It just makes her curious, that's all. Especially when she reportedly graduated from university with high honors.
"Erin, are you there?" she said. Erin nodded slowly and grunted in response. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, yeah. It's just--I was just--thinking about something," she stammered.
"About what?"
She fell quiet for a while again.
"I had that dream again."
Her aunt stopped in her tracks, but only for a second, which Erin barely noticed. Shelley looked at her niece.
"Which was what?" Shelley asked.
"You know. That one with the monster and snow," Erin said, shrugging. And the mysterious boy, she added in her mind. But she couldn't bring herself to say that to her aunt. Not yet, at least.
Shelley nodded sympathetically. "Oh. I mean, it's been a while since we last saw your therapist. How are you holding up, by the way?"
Erin heaved a deep sigh. "I'm okay, I guess. I mean, there's nothing wrong, but the occasional weird dreams I had. It's just--it makes me wonder why I dream about those kinds of stuff so often. And they don't make sense."
Shelley returned to her task. With her back turned from Erin, her aunt continued speaking.
"Well, remember what the doctor said? She said those were just brought about by stress or anxiety. And your brain is just super creative, that's all," she said quietly.
Erin pursed her lips. "Well, that may be true."
She didn't argue because having stress and anxiety really makes sense. And no, it wasn't because of a childhood tragedy that she had no memory of happening, thus it didn't upset her that much, but because of something else. Her awful, awful school.
"You know what, this Friday, I'll take you to the clinic again. Doctor Murnau could surely help out," Shelley said.
"But--"
"If you're thinking about money, don't worry. I'll be able to find a way, alright?" Shelley then approached her and patted Erin's head. Erin smiled at her kind aunt. At least, she still has a family like her.
***
At school, Erin walked into the hallway filled with students. While most of them just ignored her, many still sneered at her and gave her a weird look. Some even giggled at her mere presence.
Erin couldn't blame them. Maybe it's because of her long, black hair and unkempt bangs, plus her choice of clothes, she would really stand out from the crowd. Her black shirt, faded jeans, and old drawstring back stood like a sore thumb from the relatively more colorful swarm of people.
If only that was just the thing people bullied her about.
Erin stopped in front of her locker--the last one in the hallway, which would open squeakily and shabby to say the least. She opened it, and a bat came out of the locker.
Erin nearly shrieked, if not for the dozens of eyes around her, waiting hungrily for her to do so.
The poor bat flew and slammed into the window. Was it dead? Erin's eyes widened as she ran to scoop up the bat, but it seemed to have recovered, flapped its wings, and flew away out of the building.
She followed it with her eyes until it vanished. Erin shook her head disappointingly and turned to the crowd, who fell silent.
"Man. You said that would freak her out! I came to school early for that, you know!" one of the jocks said.
"Well, she did the last time a random bat attacked her on the school field," the other jock defended.
"Was it you two?" Erin demanded. Some of the students who were gawking at them fled to their school rooms. She glared at them. Why couldn't these people mind their own business, huh?
"No?" the jock denied. He smirked. "But if it was us, so what?"
"Yeah, what are you going to do about it?" his friend added. "Are you going to tell your witchy aunt, huh?"
Students laughed. Ever since Erin could remember, students have been calling her Aunt Shelley a witch. The sad part was, she also heard some teachers say the same thing.
Erin gave them a frozen glare.
"I don't know what your deal is, but I'd advise you to stop," Erin warned. "Or who knows what else is going to happen to you next time?"
She actually meant that they would probably be harmed again by whatever prank they are trying to pull. Getting bit by bats, maybe? Or get expelled for locking her inside the classroom for the whole night? However, the stunned look on her schoolmates' faces told her that they took her statement rather differently.
"Don't you threaten us, you weird freak," one of the students said.
"Let's just go," said the other one, and pulled his friend away. "A teacher's coming."
The leader of jocks pointed at Erin. "This isn't over, witch!"
Erin just rolled her eyes and shook her head.
***
Erin didn't know if it was just her, but she speculated it might be because of her aunt's job.
Many of the students here were disrespectful and entitled kids. She went to different schools over the years because her aunt didn't have a stable job and they also don't own a house, but this one might just be the worst. At least, in her previous schools, the students just ignored her or gave her a cold shoulder. But here? They are actively bullying her.
Besides being labeled as a weirdo and an outsider, she really suspected it also had something to do with her aunt's job. Even though she was a cleaning lady and not a security officer of the school, her aunt would see to it that nobody was loitering around the premises past six o'clock. She had already scolded and reported at least ten students in the past week to the guidance officer for loitering around campus. And that didn't include the ones she had punished the month before for secretly camping in the school after hours.
True, for some students that's a little over the top, but she didn't hurt anybody. Students just hated snitches. Especially if it's someone they consider below their station--the school janitor.
And as the infamous relative of the infamous school staff, Erin also gets a share of that hate, not even including the ones she already gets from being "different".
As she waited for the next class in their classroom, Erin sat on the chair beside the window. Outside was the school backyard. Nobody really goes there except for gangs and couples who find secluded places to make out. Usually, she would enjoy looking at the view outside, but students who presumably skipped classes were hanging out.
Instead, Erin pulled out a book from her backpack. It was a battered, old book she borrowed from the library, titled "European Gothic Tales". She smiled. At least, books were something that could take her mind off from all the trouble. A thick book, it included all sorts of horror stories, including classic novels.
While she was looking at the illustration of Jonathan Harker's carriage on the way to Transylvania, she heard an increasing noise from outside,
Annoyed but curious at the cause of this commotion, Erin looked outside the window. Several students were preparing a box that seriously looked like a coffin, while others were dragging someone to it. Even on the second floor, Erin could hear their cheers and giggling.
To her horror, however, Erin realized who the students were dragging to a coffin. Her aunt, Shelley.
Her classmates had already noticed the commotion on the ground and had started to gather near the window. Some of them were awestruck and amazed, while others were just plain horrified. But none of them did anything.
Meanwhile, Erin was too stunned to speak or move for a while. Then, when she saw that her aunt seemed limp and immobile, she spurred into action and ran out of the classroom.
As if she was lit with a blaze, Erin ran to where the students and her seemingly unconscious aunt were. When she arrived, she saw them trying to put her inside the coffin-like box and when they noticed her, they abruptly stopped.
All of them turned to her. But Erin's gaze didn't meet theirs. Instead, it was transfixed into the back of her aunt's head, which seemed to be wet with blood.
"What did you do?" she whispered. But then, she yelled and looked at the students. "What did you do to her?!"
Nobody spoke at first, then the jock from earlier broke the silence.
"What do you think? We're just cleaning up trash, see?" he said. Some giggled. Erin looked at them bewildered.
"It's just time to put your aunt into her place," a girl seconded. "It's already past due, too."
She glanced at the girl. Erin didn't know her that well, but according to how other students treated her, she was like the queen bee of this school. And oh, based on how she clung to the jock's arms, she seemed to be his girlfriend, too.
"What could my aunt possibly have done to you for her to deserve this?" Erin said slowly.
"Well," the girl said, twirling her hair. "If not for your aunt's nosy attitude, I wouldn't have been suspended for a week. Isn't that right, babe?"
The girl leaned up to her boyfriend and smacked him on the lips.
Erin now had an idea who this girl was. She was among the students who were caught hanging out on the school premises, allegedly sniffing weed, along with a group of friends. They were apprehended by her aunt and suspended. Her aunt told her this over a week ago, and even said that one of the students was the daughter of the town mayor.
It must be this girl.
"Yeah, right? If your aunt only managed her own business and kept her head low, we wouldn't have hit her head like that," the jock said.
"So, while the principal and the teachers are out for some stupid meeting, we're just sending your aunt to somewhere she belongs. You know, the graveyard behind the church? But that's when you stumbled here, looking like a hobo," the girl added, looking at Erin from head to toe.
Erin started to run towards her aunt. She was clearly unconscious and needed medical attention right away. But then, the jock's friends blocked her way.
"Get out of my way, you heartless scums," Erin growled. "Get out!"
"Not so fast," said one of them. "Let's finish up your aunt first, then after we put her at the old graveyard, we'll come for you, too. Tie her up, boys."
The rest of the gang, including some girls, rounded her up, carrying a rope. One of them even brandished duct tape in front of her, as if to mock her.
"You bastards!" she screamed and pressed forward. They pushed her back.
"Don't worry, we're not going to bury your aunt alive. We'll just--leave her at the mausoleum. If she survives the night, then good. If not, then, what could we do?" the jock said. "You can accompany her, if you want."
"I doubt the ghosts would harm them, anyway," said the girl mockingly. "After all, they looked like they belonged there."
Laughter echoed all around the semi-secluded place. The students who were looking at the windows didn't move. Perhaps they were afraid of the popular kids. Or perhaps they didn't care.
Whatever Erin said to herself, she needed to take her aunt to the school clinic right away. But if they don't even treat her, she'd take her to the hospital. Hopefully, it wasn't too late.
"Step aside!" Erin yelled and pushed them aside to make a way. However, they instead shoved her to the ground. Erin landed with a thud.
She heard more laughing from the students ganging up at her. Erin saw her aunt, still unconscious. The girl pronged her head with her pointy shoes, and sneered. Then, she felt people behind her back pulling her arms and hands, as they tried to tie her down.
Strange images flew across her mind like a forwarded film. They were all incoherent. All she could see were the laughing faces of her schoolmates, her aunt with her bleeding head, and the monster in her dreams.
Then, without thinking, Erin raised her hand in front of her. She screamed.
As she did, a strong gale swept across the school yard. Her schoolmates, including the jock and his girlfriend, flew backwards as if a mighty force suddenly dragged them. People shrieked and ran in panic. However, some of the students were caught in the gale, and they were flown upwards for a bit, before hitting the ground with a thud.
And before Erin could make sense of what had happened, she also dropped to the ground and lost consciousness.